Name

C Specification

Parameters

Specifies the target to which the buffer object is
bound, which must be one of the buffer binding targets
in the following table:

Buffer Binding Target

Purpose

GL_ARRAY_BUFFER

Vertex attributes

GL_ATOMIC_COUNTER_BUFFER

Atomic counter storage

GL_COPY_READ_BUFFER

Buffer copy source

GL_COPY_WRITE_BUFFER

Buffer copy destination

GL_DISPATCH_INDIRECT_BUFFER

Indirect compute dispatch commands

GL_DRAW_INDIRECT_BUFFER

Indirect command arguments

GL_ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER

Vertex array indices

GL_PIXEL_PACK_BUFFER

Pixel read target

GL_PIXEL_UNPACK_BUFFER

Texture data source

GL_QUERY_BUFFER

Query result buffer

GL_SHADER_STORAGE_BUFFER

Read-write storage for shaders

GL_TEXTURE_BUFFER

Texture data buffer

GL_TRANSFORM_FEEDBACK_BUFFER

Transform feedback buffer

GL_UNIFORM_BUFFER

Uniform block storage

buffer

Specifies the name of a buffer object.

Description

glBindBuffer binds a buffer object to the specified buffer binding point. Calling glBindBuffer with
target set to one of the accepted symbolic constants and buffer set to the name
of a buffer object binds that buffer object name to the target. If no buffer object with name buffer
exists, one is created with that name. When a buffer object is bound to a target, the previous binding for that
target is automatically broken.

Buffer object names are unsigned integers. The value zero is reserved, but
there is no default buffer object for each buffer object target. Instead, buffer set to zero
effectively unbinds any buffer object previously bound, and restores client memory usage for that buffer object target (if supported for that target).
Buffer object names and the corresponding buffer object contents are local to
the shared object space of the current
GL rendering context;
two rendering contexts share buffer object names only if they
explicitly enable sharing between contexts through the appropriate GL windows interfaces functions.

glGenBuffers must be used to generate a set of unused buffer object names.

The state of a buffer object immediately after it is first bound is an unmapped zero-sized memory buffer with
GL_READ_WRITE access and GL_STATIC_DRAW usage.

While a non-zero buffer object name is bound, GL operations on the target to which it is
bound affect the bound buffer object, and queries of the target to which it is bound return state
from the bound buffer object. While buffer object name zero is bound, as in the initial state,
attempts to modify or query state on the target to which it is bound generates an
GL_INVALID_OPERATION error.

When a non-zero buffer object is bound to the GL_ARRAY_BUFFER target,
the vertex array pointer parameter is interpreted as an offset within the
buffer object measured in basic machine units.

When a non-zero buffer object is bound to the GL_DRAW_INDIRECT_BUFFER target,
parameters for draws issued through glDrawArraysIndirect
and glDrawElementsIndirect are sourced
from the specified offset in that buffer object's data store.

When a non-zero buffer object is bound to the GL_DISPATCH_INDIRECT_BUFFER target,
the parameters for compute dispatches issued through glDispatchComputeIndirect
are sourced from the specified offset in that buffer object's data store.

While a non-zero buffer object is bound to the GL_PIXEL_PACK_BUFFER target,
the following commands are affected: glGetCompressedTexImage,
glGetTexImage, and
glReadPixels. The pointer parameter is
interpreted as an offset within the buffer object measured in basic machine units.

The buffer targets GL_COPY_READ_BUFFER and GL_COPY_WRITE_BUFFER
are provided to allow glCopyBufferSubData
to be used without disturbing the state of other bindings. However, glCopyBufferSubData
may be used with any pair of buffer binding points.

The GL_TRANSFORM_FEEDBACK_BUFFER buffer binding point may be passed to glBindBuffer,
but will not directly affect transform feedback state. Instead, the indexed GL_TRANSFORM_FEEDBACK_BUFFER
bindings must be used through a call to glBindBufferBase
or glBindBufferRange. This will affect the generic
GL_TRANSFORM_FEEDBACK_BUFFER binding.

Likewise, the GL_UNIFORM_BUFFER, GL_ATOMIC_COUNTER_BUFFER and GL_SHADER_STORAGE_BUFFER
buffer binding points may
be used, but do not directly affect uniform buffer, atomic counter buffer or shader storage buffer state, respectively.
glBindBufferBase
or glBindBufferRange must be used to bind a buffer to
an indexed uniform buffer, atomic counter buffer or shader storage buffer binding point.

The GL_QUERY_BUFFER binding point is used to specify a buffer object that is to
receive the results of query objects through calls to the glGetQueryObject
family of commands.

A buffer object binding created with glBindBuffer remains active until a different
buffer object name is bound to the same target, or until the bound buffer object is
deleted with glDeleteBuffers.

Once created, a named buffer object may be re-bound to any target as often as needed. However,
the GL implementation may make choices about how to optimize the storage of a buffer object based
on its initial binding target.

Notes

The GL_COPY_READ_BUFFER, GL_UNIFORM_BUFFER and
GL_TEXTURE_BUFFER targets are available only if the GL version is 3.1 or greater.

The GL_ATOMIC_COUNTER_BUFFER target is available only if the GL version is 4.2 or greater.

The GL_DISPATCH_INDIRECT_BUFFER and GL_SHADER_STORAGE_BUFFER targets are available only if the GL version is 4.3 or greater.

The GL_QUERY_BUFFER target is available only if the GL version is 4.4 or greater.

Errors

GL_INVALID_ENUM is generated if target is not one of the allowable
values.

GL_INVALID_VALUE is generated if buffer is not a name previously returned
from a call to glGenBuffers.